Multi Split Heat Pumps for Christchurch Homes
One outdoor unit, several indoor heads, one tidy system. It's a sensible way to warm the living room and the bedrooms in an older Christchurch home without bolting a box on every outside wall.
A multi split heat pump runs several indoor units from one outdoor compressor. You get heating in the lounge and bedrooms off a single outside box, each room set to its own temperature. It suits Christchurch bungalows with separate zones and limited outside wall space.
How one outdoor unit runs several rooms
A multi split has one outdoor compressor connected by pipes to two, three or more indoor units. Each indoor head has its own remote, so the lounge can sit at 21 and the kids' room at 18. When only one room's calling for heat, the outdoor unit just does that room's work.
The draw is one outside box instead of four. On a frosty Cashmere morning when the whole family's up at once, you can have the living areas and bedrooms warming together off the same system. That's a real advantage over a single big high-wall unit trying to push heat down a hallway it never reaches.
Matching an indoor unit to each room
The good part of a multi head heat pump is you don't have to use the same style everywhere. A high wall works fine in most bedrooms. In a lounge with a full wall of windows, a floor unit sits low and warms the space from the ground up, which suits the way cold air pools in the valley-floor suburbs.
If a room has the ceiling for it, ceiling cassette heat pumps tuck in flush and blow to four corners. Or a floor console heat pump does a good job in a bungalow where wall space is taken up by furniture and windows. We'll walk each room with you and pick what fits. If you're still weighing up the layout, it's worth reading through the types of heat pump before we visit.
Fitting a multi split into an older bungalow
Older brick and timber homes around Ilam, Merivale and Halswell often have chopped-up floor plans, separate living rooms, a formal lounge, bedrooms off a long hall. One unit can't do that. Running pipework to several heads lets us treat each zone properly.
The trade-off is the pipe runs. We route them through the ceiling or under the floor and out to one outdoor unit, usually on the shaded south or west side. Good heat pump installation Christchurch work is about planning those runs so they're tidy and short. If your home is large and open-plan instead, ducted heat pumps Christchurch can be worth comparing before you commit to a multi split.
What a multi split costs to buy and run
A multi split isn't cheap up front. You're paying for one bigger outdoor unit plus every indoor head and the pipe run to each. But it's usually less than fitting a separate heat pump in every room, and there's only one outside box to look at and service.
Running cost comes down to sizing. Get the outdoor unit right for the total load and it holds temperature efficiently through a cold southerly. Undersize it and it struggles when every room's on at once. Have a look at typical heat pump installation cost figures, then try our heat pump sizing calculator to get a rough number of heads and capacity before we quote.
Have a look at our types of heat pump, ceiling cassette heat pumps, floor console heat pumps, heat pump installation Christchurch, heat pump installation cost, ducted heat pumps Christchurch and heat pump sizing calculator for more.
Not sure how many rooms to do?
Give us a call on 03 222 3413 and tell us which rooms get cold. We'll tell you straight whether a multi split is the right call for your place.
Multi split heat pump questions
How many indoor units can one multi split heat pump run?
Most residential multi splits run between two and five indoor units off one outdoor unit, depending on the model and the total heating load. The bigger the outdoor unit, the more heads it can carry. There's a limit though, and pushing too many rooms onto one compressor hurts performance, so we size it to your home rather than cramming on heads.
Is a multi split cheaper than separate heat pumps in each room?
For three or more rooms it usually works out cheaper than buying separate single-split heat pumps for each one, mostly because you're only paying for one outdoor unit and one set of outdoor install work. For just one or two rooms, separate units can actually come out even or cheaper. It depends on your layout, so it's worth getting both priced.
Can a multi split heat pump heat and cool different rooms at once?
Yes and no. Every room can be set to a different temperature, so one can be warm and another cooler. But at any moment the whole system runs in either heating or cooling, not both. In a Christchurch winter that's rarely an issue since everyone wants heat, but you can't heat a bedroom and cool the lounge at the same time.
Do multi split heat pumps work well in older Christchurch homes?
They can work well, and they're often a better fit than one big unit because older bungalows have separate rooms one head can't reach. The catch is pipe routing through solid brick, timber framing and older ceilings, which needs planning. We check access before quoting so there are no surprises once we start.
Warm the whole house off one outdoor unit
We install multi split systems across Fendalton, Merivale, Cashmere, Ilam and Halswell. Tell us your rooms and we'll come measure up and quote it properly.